


tethered hearts

by chiiibiiichan, tootsuro



Series: Kuroo Week 2020 [4]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angels, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Boys In Love, Burns, Demons, Falling In Love, First Dates, First Kiss, First Love, First Meetings, Fluff and Angst, Forbidden Love, Freeform, Good Demons, Guardian Angels, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, KuroAka - Freeform, Love Confessions, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Sad, Wounds/Scars, kuroo week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:48:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26024482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiiibiiichan/pseuds/chiiibiiichan, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tootsuro/pseuds/tootsuro
Summary: Kuroo, a wandering demon in search for love finds and tethered himself with Akaashi, an angel willing to grant his longing.What seemed impossible happened, but for a cost.-Written for Kuroo Week Day 5 - Demons/Angels + Wounds/Scars
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji & Kuroo Tetsurou, Akaashi Keiji/Kuroo Tetsurou
Series: Kuroo Week 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1880713
Comments: 1
Kudos: 52
Collections: Kuroo Week 2020





	tethered hearts

Aimlessly, Kuroo has been roaming the Earth for some time. He was cautious at first, dodging whispers and glances, passing by back alleys to avoid crowds.

Eventually, his horns disappeared, but his demonic nature would resurface at times. Making him a criminal during his journey. 

He was in search of something that he doesn’t know. So he was clueless about what it looks like, what it sounds like, or what it feels like, it became difficult for him. 

It didn’t even matter if it takes him a century to find it. He just wanted it. 

But how can a demon ever know what love is? 

The dawn is breaking and Kuroo hugged himself as he laid down on the bench of a local playground. Snow fluttered down, sticking to his brows and to his eyelashes. Summer and fall have long passed and he still hasn’t found what he’s looking for. Now he bathes in the cold with nothing but bad intentions for the day ahead of him. 

He feels a tingle in his spine, a sudden jolt somewhere in his chest.

“Are you alright?” A soft, cool voice asked him, and Kuroo looked up to find gunmetal blue eyes staring close into his hazel ones.

Kuroo pauses. He’s never seen someone so awfully pretty. He felt his heart ignite—a sensation he had never felt before in his entire life.

He hasn’t spoken in minutes, dumbstruck and in awe, and so the pretty one poked his cheek to check if he was alive. Kuroo stumbled back and fell off the bench. It was the first time someone has touched him after he’s left Hell and it made his stomach stir. 

The place that the stranger had touched him left a burn, on Kuroo's cheeks and on the tip of the other’s finger. It evaporated a moment later, an understanding passed between them. They now both knew they couldn’t touch each other again just like that.

“So you’re a...” The blue-eyed boy trailed off, completely comprehending the situation in front of him right off the bat.

Kuroo tilted his head to the side, slowly realizing what was in front of him. 

“Can I touch your wings?” Kuroo asked for permission, his eyes livening as a grin curls his lips.

“Is that your way of introducing yourself?” The other asked, letting out a sigh, “I’m Akaashi.” He said, stretching out a hand.

He quickly withdrew, remembering what would happen if they touch.

Kuroo just looks at him, he sat there as if frozen, blinking cluelessly. The snow fell around them both, taking shelter and decorating their locks with white freckles. 

“Kuroo,” He whispered, Akaashi barely catching it. 

“Kuroo...?” Akaashi repeated while checking the entirety of the malevolent looking-boy that had his hands cupped to catch snow, another wave of silence flooded the space between them.

He released the bunch of frozen rain and then Kuroo got to his feet, moving close to where the pretty boy was standing. 

Just when they were close enough, Kuroo reached out, Akaashi backed up the instant Kuroo raised his arm.

“Even if I’d let you touch them, you’ll only hurt yourself,” Akaashi warned. Kuroo’s eyes sparked with mischief. He reached out again, making Akaashi step back. 

And then they were chasing each other in the middle of the playground like a bunch of kids. Akaashi used his last resort, he used his wings to hover above Kuroo who stood there, looking up to him with a pout. 

“Please, refrain from touching me, I don’t want to hurt you,” Akaashi said, sounding desperate to keep Kuroo in a safe distance.

It was a good thing it was too early for people to be around to see them. 

“Alright. I’ll stop.”

It was obviously a lie, but Akaashi still stepped down and hid his wings. Invisible to both Kuroo and humans. 

“So,” Kuroo started, disappointment trailing his voice as he reached out for the air behind Akaashi. Akaashi looked back, eyes dull but interested, "Why have you looked for me?" 

"I have tethered," Akaashi simply says. He plucked a feather from his wings, held it between them. The moment Akaashi let it go, it immediately zipped in front of Kuroo's face, "I have tethered with you. You are now my responsibility." 

Kuroo releases a little woah, studying the dark-colored feather in the air. It's shiny and looked silky, when he touched it with his finger, it burned away. 

"There must be a mistake," he says, pursing his lips, "Angels cannot tether with other beings aside humans." 

"As they said." 

Kuroo grins. 

"This must be fate!" He announced, "You must be the one!" 

Akaashi furrows his eyebrows, "What?" 

"You are the one who'll help me find what I am looking for! You'll teach me about it, carve it into my skin so that I can carry it within me when I journey back to Hell."

"What is that?" 

"Love." 

"... Love." 

Kuroo rolls his eyes, "Don't look so done with it! I'm very curious as to what it is. Humans enjoy it all the time, they carry a mark with them when they die," he explains, "And you must know that a lot have transcended and dove down to Heaven and Hell because of it." 

Akaashi looked at him like one would look at a lunatic. Still, deep down, he understood the longing, "Love is not something a demon is capable of feeling." 

"As they all say," Kuroo murmurs, looking up at the sky with hands behind his back. His horns flickered on his head, his eyes coloring a deep dark red and he can feel his fangs in his mouth, it disappeared quickly as it came, "But I want to know. Won't my sheer be enough to let me taste?" 

Akaashi thought it was all absurd, he was tethered to a demon that wished to find love. It must be a trial of the Heavens! He had never heard of this ever happening before. 

But he had no choice but to follow, if he does not fulfill Kuroo's longing, he can never go back to his home. He will decay and die in this Earth. 

So for days, Akaashi and Kuroo traveled the cities of the human world to recreate human love. They went to New York to know about people randomly meeting in the busy streets, how easy it was to register a flicker of adoration with the simple brushing of shoulders of two strangers. They went to Paris, the acclaimed most romantic city, it lived to its name really. Kuroo had never seen a place so filled with romance and sensuality, everyone was unshamed and forward, using kisses as greetings and poetic confessions spilled from lips so very easily. 

Akaashi thought it had no purpose, but seeing the way Kuroo's eyes shine a flicker of rich red and the way his lips would fall into tender smiles so unlike the devil's, Akaashi would just think okay. 

Kuroo dragged Akaashi to a nearby bridge, filled with locks and people throwing keys on the river. He turned to Akaashi. 

"Why are they doing that? Is it not a waste of resources?" 

He was genuinely confused. 

Akaashi bites back a smile, "It is a symbol of love, Kuroo." 

“But why?” He asked, touching the padlock with faded initials on it. “To keep love.” He answered. Kuroo shot him a curious glance. 

“What if it doesn’t last?” Kuroo shot another question to Akaashi. “Can I remove this if it doesn’t?” He followed up, the mischief glinting in his eyes. 

“No, please don't. That is not yours.” Akaashi said, Kuroo half shrugs and then lets the metal go. He was usually hardheaded and difficult to 

“And even if it was," Akaashi continues, eyes grazing over the hundred of metals locked in this bridge, "Love that was there can never be removed. This is a sign that even if it did not come to forever, it had happened still." 

Kuroo hums, "Isn't that a waste of time? Don't they get hurt by it?" 

"They do," Akaashi nods, glancing over at Kuroo, "But love is not a waste of time." 

Kuroo nods, quite understanding. So love is everlasting even if the beholder does not continue, it's not a waste of time, and humans find excuses to bring their feelings into physical form. Like this bridge. 

He was fascinated.

“Want to buy a lock and put it here?” Kuroo suddenly suggests, shocking Akaashi, then a smile made its way to his lips. 

“Okay,” Akaashi responds shortly, they walked the distance to the store nearby and purchased a padlock.

Kuroo rips the package immediately and Akaashi watches him unlock it. Kuroo looks up at him, “Do we need to write our names here?” 

“If you want to,” He responds. Kuroo’s face breaks into a wide smile.

He disappeared for a moment, then came back with a marker in hand. 

“Where’d you get that?” Akaashi asks, a little panicked.

“I picked it up somewhere,” Nonchalance gave an edge to his response, making Akaashi wonder whether he should laugh or be concerned. 

Akaashi lets out a sigh, resisting slapping a hand over his forehead, “Don’t tell me you stole it?” Kuroo merely grins, making the other boy shake his head. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll put it back," Kuroo reassures.

His mischief lessened with Akaashi pulling him by the shirt every time the malevolent twinkle in his eyes showed, a silent warning that he could ignore but can't. 

The blue-eyed boy watched Kuroo as he kneeled to write on the lock.

“Do I write our initials only?” Kuroo asks, looking up at Akaashi. 

“If our names fit, then you can put it as a whole.” 

“Okay, okay, I’ll just make my writing super small,” Kuroo giggles, “With this, we can have something to look back on.” He says, his tongue sticking out to one side as he finished inking the silver. 

“Here!” He exclaimed, handing it over, his head held high and his arms put on his sides, looking proud of himself. 

Akaashi scans the lock, letting out a chuckle, “I can’t read it.” He told honestly.

Kuroo slouch from his former proud position. He quickly and carefully snatches it away, a frown mars his face and then he assumed a posture as if he’ll throw it to the river. Akaashi immediately pinches the thin cloth that separates his skin from Kuroo and pulled hard to stop him from doing so. 

“It’s fine, let's keep it, okay? I like that one,” Akaashi says.

Kuroo’s feelings were fickle as his face quickly eases, a smile blooming on his face too precious for a demon to procure.

"Then let's go lock it!” Kuroo beams, practically skipping on his steps back to the bridge heavy with locks and promises. 

“Before I throw the key, you have to promise me one thing," Kuroo starts, glancing over at Akaashi’s direction, the other patiently wait for what he had in mind. 

“Promise me you’ll make me feel what love is.” Akaashi was taken aback, that was... too much. Too much for him. Given him as who he was. 

And one thing, he was already beginning feeling it. Akaashi has loved plenty—friends and humans he’s tethered with before and so he knew well what he should be feeling. It was easy to identify, love was straightforward. But this, as much as he doesn’t want to admit it to himself, it was romantic. The romance was deeper, more complicated, and hard, he didn't want to accept that.

Because if he did, he knew very well it wouldn’t end right. 

“It's exactly why we’re bound together,” That was all he could respond, receiving a pout from the demon. 

“Alright, alright, pretty face,” Kuroo mumbles as he looked for someplace to put their lock. Akaashi blushes from what he was called and shies away from Kuroo’s hazel eyes when they met. 

It was hard to feel love when the one you’re in love with doesn’t even understand it. 

"Here's the key," Kuroo presented the metal in his palm, his red eyes flickering red with excitement. 

He held it up to Akaashi's lip, "Kiss it." 

"What? No!" The boy violently shakes his head.

"Come on," Kuroo drags, "I saw some couple do it a while ago and I wanna do it too." 

He sounded like a whining baby, he knows it too. But there was just something about teasing him that makes his stomach stir. Akaashi, without another choice, pecked the tip of the key that Kuroo held in front of him. He was careful not to touch his fingers. 

Kuroo hoorays, kissing the place he had did and then retracting his arm to flick off the key to the river. Akaashi's already red-faced, and Kuroo stared at their lock sweetly.

“Did you come here just to find out what love is?” Akaashi asked as they started to walk away from the bridge.

Kuroo didn't hear it, his attention honing in on a stall selling crepes. He had a perpetual sweet tooth, he thought about his first days here with the living and he had spent it with a chocolatier with red hair, wide eyes, and curled lips. Akaashi bought them the dessert, and they shared it like a couple, though Kuroo ate the most of it.

For a moment, it was as if the two of them were mere humans enjoying a normal life. 

After Paris, they traveled more. Kuroo felt more and more normal as he learned about love, Akaashi is a great teacher, he would think. He would wonder what else angels did in Heaven apart from waiting? Wondered if Akaashi himself felt the flooding sensation of love. 

They went to Tokyo, it was spring now. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom and with every cold blow of the wind, it stirred the petals and scattered pink tufts all over. Kuroo noticed Akaashi growing pale, his wings would flicker in and out, it dragged behind him instead of sitting comfortably on his back. 

He knew of the reason but he kept quiet, turned a blind eye as they walk through a long line of cobblestones under cherry trees. 

“So, you’re telling me you left Hell to come here and experience love?” Akaashi brings up again.

Kuroo looks up from his newly purchased book entitled Romeo and Juliet. They were bought it in one of the libraries in Italy, quite literally learning love by the book this time. He learned there is love everywhere, and humans made sure to write about it for other people. 

“Yeah,” Kuroo answered in a rush, pulling the book closer to his face, too indulged with Romeo and Juliet’s story to give Akaashi a proper answer. 

Akaashi felt a smile creep up to his lips and warmth on his chest seeing him like that. Then, a burning sensation seared his right arm and hand. Glancing at it, it's looked like his skin is being chipped away by an invisible flame. It quickly disperses, but it left ugly dark marks on his whole forearm.

He was being reminded that he was losing time. He needed to fulfill Kuroo's longing soon.

Kuroo watched this happen, and he could feel a sudden type of anger brewing in his chest, "So, it's true." 

"Huh?" Akaashi asks.

"Angels can't stay tethered for too long." 

Akaashi looks away, "Yes. We'd disappear if we do, it's a reminder that we cannot indulge inhumanly pleasures." 

Kuroo tilts his head, closing his book, "So, you have never known love before too?" 

"I do," Akaashi chuckles, "I have loved many before." 

It was like poison spilled in his mouth, Kuroo imagined Akaashi doing all the things they had did together with someone else, and it bought him... jealousy. It was the truth that jealousy was a green-eyed monster since at that moment, Kuroo never wanted to be as greedy as much as he did about Akaashi. 

"I'm jealous," He confessed, eyes flickering a dark red, "What should I do?" 

They had stopped walking then. There's an overwhelming feeling in Kuroo's chest and he hopes and wishes that it was what Akaashi had been helping him with, he wanted to feel it. Wanted to have it for him.

Akaashi was no better than he was, his eyes are soft and his eyes eyebrows are furrowed as he registers what Kuroo had said.

 _Jealous_. 

"Jealousy goes away with reassurance, with affirmation," Akaashi says softly, it shook Kuroo's humanity, "It is also a sign of love."

The air smelled sweet, the grounds and the skies are pink and they can hear the lazy current of a river. Kuroo came close, he wanted to see, wanted a touch, but he could only hover his fingers over Akaashi's skin. He looked up at him with glassy eyes, it resembled the bright sky of the first day he had escaped. It was filled with longing and a little bit of regret, it resembled the feeling he had carried in his centuries in Hell. 

Kuroo wonders how he must be looking at him, was he conveying love? Is his gaze soft and fragile? Because he couldn't think anybody could look at his angel with hostility.

"I lov—" 

"You don't," Akaashi interrupts, "Not yet. Don't say it, please." 

He gripped Kuroo's shirt and buried his face in his chest, so very careful as to not touch their exposed skins. 

It stirred an enormous amount of feelings in Kuroo's unused heart, he became aware of how it quickened its beat. He looked down at the being in his chest, he wanted to bury his face in his hair and wrap his arms around him like what he saw couples did. 

He could only watch, could only feel the longing stretch in him farther. 

They spent the winter all around Japan, they visited all the attractions, ate all the famous desserts, then they slept in rooms with big beds and pillows between them. Waking and falling asleep facing each other. Kuroo always woke up first, and every time he had always wanted to touch Akaashi's sleeping face. 

As for Akaashi, his case was getting worse by the day. Both of his arms are now lined with dark marks and his nails are practically black. His wings are shedding, leaving copious amounts of silk feathers. It hurt his shoulders and his back bled, he barely had enough energy to walk. 

Kuroo wanted to end his suffering already, it didn't matter what he wanted. Love was trivial with Akaashi as a sacrifice, he needed to break their tether.

That night, they went to the festival. The day before that, Kuroo watched a film about a boy that could not be touched, a spirit that would disappear once someone holds them. It was just like his angel, so he tied a white ribbon on his wrist and connected it to Akaashi.

It was the closest they could get to hold hands. 

The night was bright and the streets are joyous, children run all around with giddy smiles while parents trailed after them with fond looks. Kuroo was elated that despite his close demise, Akaashi looked like he was enjoying it all. 

Everything was so fun with him around. 

They roamed, ate, and rested on a hilltop for the night's fireworks. It seemed like a good note to end, Kuroo thinks, as he turns to Akaashi to say the words that suddenly had infinite meaning. He had learned all the kinds of love, and his own was an angel. 

"I love you." 

Akaashi wasn't surprised, instead, a fond smile decorated his lips, "I know." 

"You do?" 

"Yes," He nods, lacing the ribbon that tied them together with his long dark fingers, "You have been very caring, Kuroo. You take care of me despite your nature, you have touched me without brushing our skins and I saw the way you look at me in the morning." 

Kuroo moved closer as he continued, "I was hoping you'd say it later because then I'd get more time with you." 

"I finished the book," Kuroo could only say, "If only they waited, don't you think? Their time was also short." 

"Love is very foolish." 

They leaned in at the same time and their skin felt like Kuroo came back to the depts and Akaashi was with him. It was too much, but they kissed. Their arms had tangled around each other and their hands roamed across their figures, how long had Kuroo wanted to do this? 

They broke every rule that there was, and Akaashi was crying in pain as they separated. Burn marks scattered all across Kuroo's face and beck, they collapse on the ground. Somehow still content despite the consequences. 

It was time too, Kuroo turned to Akaashi with the fondest look a demon could muster. And he tangled his burning hand with his angel's dying one. He placed a kiss on his knuckles, tenderly despite.

"This is goodbye, Kuroo," Akaashi whispers, his fingers tightening around his, "You have found your longing and I had helped." 

Kuroo nods, his horns resurfacing and his eyes fully shining red. Akaashi bloomed with wings, and his head glowed with a bright, bright halo. His eyes looked like burning stars. 

"You're my favorite love, will forever be," The angel promised.

The demon could only grin, "And you're my first love, my only one." 

It went quickly, and as soon as the fireworks erupted in the sky, they were gone as soon as they came. The grass has burned from where they untethered and a patch of dandelions had bloomed, their own symbol for every human to see. 

Evidence that one time in that century, in that place, a demon conquered love, and an angel indulged in romance.


End file.
